A top Republican is demanding that President Barack Obama support France’s “high-stakes’’ strike against al-Qaida mercenaries in North Africa.
The call by Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, comes amid fears the Obama administration is avoiding fighting Islamist extremists when those forces have killed hostages in neighboring Algeria.
"I expect the Obama Administration to honor appropriate requests for intelligence and logistics support from France,” said Royce, according to NBC News.
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Royce backed France’s strike “to combat this serious security threat. The vast area of northern Mali gives these al-Qaeda-linked militants space to operate, and the weapons flowing out of Libya makes them deadly.
“This cancer could not go unaddressed.’’
Last week, France launched a military assault to crush radical Islamists who have advanced to within 250 miles of the Mali capital.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Britain, Canada and other African nations are aiding France in the strike, but the United States — a longtime ally — has bowed out, with the White House blocking any immediate help.
That refusal came after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States had “promised’’ to work and cooperate and “provide whatever assistance we can to try and help" French forces.
“The French have a right to be angry. France doesn't want U.S. ground troops, but it does need planes to deploy soldiers and refuel strike aircraft, as well as intelligence from U.S. drones and satellites,’’ the Journal says.
“Administration officials are offering various lousy not-for-attribution excuses. U.S. law bars direct assistance to a government formed by a military coup, as in Mali, but that shouldn't preclude helping a fellow NATO member.’’
The newspaper says despite White House insistence that al-Qaeda has been crushed, it is “evolving threat that reconstitutes itself when and where it can … [and has] found new havens in Yemen and most recently in northern Africa.’’
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The United States is providing surveillance and other intelligence assistance to France, but direct military aid to Mali has so far been forbidden under U.S. law because the Mali government seized power in a coup.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said this week his country faces a tough operation in Mali.
"It's tough. We were aware from the beginning it would be a very difficult operation," he said.
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